The Digital Desk

Everything you ever wanted to know about NewsOK.com

Celebrity Watch page grows in content and popularity August 27, 2009 | Comment on this article

I was in a meeting the other day with an OPUBCO Communications Group executive and a couple of others. We were discussing a few items about the way we treat and present content on a variety of our pages. The Celebrity Watch page on NewsOK came up as an example. ‘That’s my favorite page on NewsOK,” said... Read More

NewsOK launches new mobile site August 25, 2009 We launched a new mobile site this weekend for all mobile platforms. Now, NewsOK on your mobile device (including an iPhone, Blackberry, Palm Pre or any other device) is enhanced to make the experience better. I carry a Blackberry Curve, and I love the new site, especially in comparison to the way we delivered... Read More

High school fall sports day summed up in about one minute August 21, 2009 This is a pretty cool video. It’s a quick (a very quick) look at all the high school athletes that were in our building here at OPUBCO on Thursday as we prepare to cover the fall high school sports. Pay close attention to the names and faces. There will be a quiz after it’s finished. I memorized every name... Read More

Today’s Paper page is improved and ready for more

August 20, 2009 We’ve had a link to I thought today would be a good day to bring more attention to that page because we’ve recently focused on improving the experience once you are there and the experience of actually getting there. If you are a daily newspaper reader, you’ve likely seen more notes in the newspaper... Read More

An afternoon break with Helen Ford Wallace, the trendsetter August 19, 2009 I just had a nice afternoon break to discuss blogging with NewsOK’s first staff blogger - Helen Ford Wallace. Helen often stops by on Wednesday afternoon before her 3 p.m. video shoot at OPUBCO Studios on the seventh floor of the OPUBCO tower. Helen is a trendsetter here at OPUBCO Communications Group. And... Read More

Video initiatives bring ‘innovator’ results for NewsOK August 18, 2009 At NewsOK.com, we know that we do a lot of things well. We produce a lot of news and information content that a lot of people use as a part of their daily lives, whether it’s breaking news, features, investigative pieces or sports columns. Yes, we do a lot of things well, and we do most of them at a pretty high... Read More

NewsOK launches new high school sports coverage page — Varsity

August 17, 2009 High school football practices started last week. It was Tuesday, to be exact. That was also the same day we launched our new initiative in covering high school sports better than anyone else. It’s called Varsity, and the main idea is this – we are putting sports reporters on specific coverage areas and... Read More

New Viva Oklahoma! releases this week

August 10, 2009 The latest edition of Viva Oklahoma! was released on Sunday. You can see the Web site at all times from the link on the NewsOK sub-navigation under Home. Or you can simply bookmark http://www.vivaoklahoma.com. I used to work on this publication each month, while I was the Director of Custom Publishing here at... Read More

‘Life is Real – Writing the Final Chapters’ series continues with blogs from Jim Chastain and Charlotte Lankard

August 07, 2009 A couple of weeks ago, The Oklahoman ran its final chapters of the “Jim Chastain: Life is Real” series. The good news is that the series ends with Jim continuing the fight and living with cancer. And our page on NewsOK, complete with Jim’s blog will continue on. Reporter Ken Raymond shared his thoughts... Read More

High school huddle warms up the NewsOK high school coverage August 06, 2009 It’s almost high school football season. And our sports staff is gearing up for the most in-depth and consistent coverage of high school football that we’ve ever seen online. Watch below, and stay tuned next week for our new high school coverage page. Just remember this – NewsOK.com is where you can... Read More

Pharmacy Shooting story continues on NewsOK

August 03, 2009 The Pharmacy Shooting story gets more and more interesting. In case you missed it this weekend in The Oklahoman or on NewsOK, the story took another turn with a copyrighted story from The Oklahoman on Sunday. Reporter Nolan Clay details the three different accounts of the events that Jerome Ersland has told... Read More

Reader requests more responsible commenting on articles July 30, 2009 I’ve posted recently about comments on our site. I was talking about how other news organizations are looking at their comments and trying to find ways to improve the the level of dialogue for their audience. Then, the very same day, I received this bit of feedback from one of our visitors through our feedback... Read More

Article comments drawing attention on news sites like NewsOK.com July 28, 2009 The Poynter Institute, which I was fortunate enough to visit about two weeks ago, posted a story about a trend in article comments on news sites around the country. The headline caught my attention: Racism, Attacks Lead News Sites to Disable Story Comments It caught my attention because when we read some of... Read More

Another man dies on the Internet

July 24, 2009 We had an article today about a Tulsa man making up news about another athlete. The news? That one of the atheletes was dead. The news made it to TMZ.com. Oh … the irony. I wrote a couple weeks ago about traditional media outlets and the way it’s difficult decisions about the breaking news about Michael... Read More

lsKnow it forums: Where Oklahomans help Oklahomans

July 16, 2009 A little more than one year ago, we launched our first ‘know it’ topic. We had two full pages of coverage about cancer, plus an extensive online piece under the new ‘know it’ brand on NewsOK.com. The goal? To use the power and resources of our journalists to gather all the information we could on a topic... Read More

Live from Florida: NewsOK presents breaking news July 12, 2009 This week, I’m learning and sharing. I’m at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. , where 29 news industry professionals are gathered to share tidbits about what they are trying and what is working in their market. We have a lot to be proud about what we’ve done at NewsOK.com, so I submitted an... Read More

A quick look at Fourth of July fun July 06, 2009 I didn’t get a chance to go to the parade in downtown Edmond on Saturday. I had planned on it, but reality of the company that was arriving at our home later that day settled in, and I found that the time was better spent preparing for the cookout. A Fourth of July parade is a key part of the festivities, in... Read More

It’s all about you

July 02, 2009 I enter July 4 weekend with a story about YOU! Frankly, I should talk more about YOU! And I think I will be talking more about YOU! in the coming months. I’m proud of this Web page, where we showcase the content from the Thursday YOU! printed publication in The Oklahoman. It’s filled with interesting... Read More

Update: Jeff Goldblum is still not dead June 30, 2009 On Friday, I posted about how NewsOK treated the breaking news story about the death of Michael Jackson. The larger discussion in question wasn’t really about NewsOK. It was about traditional media being upstaged — or at least scooped — by non-traditional media like blogs and social media sites. I relayed... Read More

Share it Live on the Fourth of July

June 29, 2009 During this past weekend’s Club H.O.G. rally in Bricktown, we launched our partnership with Share it Live, a photo-sharing application developed by visionaries working the OPUBCO Communications Group Audience Development department. It’s an iPhone application with a unique slogan – “a new era in citizen... Read More